Core Constructions Vs State Tax Officer (Kerala High Court)
The petitioner challenged an order passed under Section 73 of the CGST/SGST Act, 2017, which denied input tax credit (ITC) for November 2018, December 2018, and January 2019 to March 2019 on the ground that returns were not filed within the period prescribed under Section 16(4) of the CGST Act.
The petitioner contended that Section 16(5) of the CGST Act entitled it to claim ITC because the relevant returns had been filed before the cut-off date of 30.11.2021. The assessment order itself recorded that the returns for the relevant periods were filed on 15.11.2019, 19.10.2020, and 01.09.2021.
The Kerala High Court found that the returns had been filed within the cut-off date specified under Section 16(5). Accordingly, the Court quashed the assessment order and directed the State Tax Officer to reconsider the matter and grant the benefit of ITC under Section 16(5), if the petitioner was otherwise entitled to it.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF KERALA HIGH COURT
The petitioner is a registered tax payer under the provisions of the CGST/KSGST Act. The challenge in this writ petition is against Ext.P6 order passed under Section 73 of the CGST/SGST Act, 2017 by which, the input tax credit claimed by the petitioner was rejected pertaining to the months of November 2018, December 2018 and January 2019 to March 2019. The denial of the input tax credit was on the ground that the petitioner failed to submit the returns within the statutory period contemplated under Section 16(4) of the CGST Act.
